


Citrus and Sugar

by bitchywitchy



Series: Of cute ghost boys and a girl with an angel's voice [2]
Category: Julie and The Phantoms (TV)
Genre: F/M, First Kiss, Fluffy Ending, Idiots in Love, Platonic Cuddling, Post-Canon, Sleepy Cuddles
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-01
Updated: 2020-10-01
Packaged: 2021-03-07 21:02:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,439
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26694190
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bitchywitchy/pseuds/bitchywitchy
Summary: “I-” Ray sighs, “Next time can band bonding not involve me walking in on my sixteen-year-old daughter sleeping with three teenage boys.”“DAD! It sounds so… gross when you say it like that!” Julie said, wrinkling her nose.OrWhat's the first thing a ghost band does after figuring out they can touch each other? Cuddle of course!AndLuke realizes he can finally act on the interesting little relationship he has with Julie.
Relationships: Julie Molina/Luke Patterson
Series: Of cute ghost boys and a girl with an angel's voice [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1942507
Comments: 30
Kudos: 623





	Citrus and Sugar

He can touch her. 

Oh my god. He can touch her. He can feel her warm soft skin, the pressure of her body without the fear of her falling through. She’s solid. He’s solid. It’s incredible. 

Wait. What the fuck. 

How can he feel her? And for a frantic, heart-wrenching moment, Luke thinks she died. That Caleb got a hold of her and turned her into a ghost as a punishment for them leaving. 

But he _feels_ her. Feels the warmth of her skin. And it’s different from the way it feels to touch Alex or Reggie. When he touches them it’s just a little bit off. He can feel the fabric of their clothes, the texture of their skin, but the warmth isn’t there. It’s almost like touching someone who just got out of a pool when their skin is cold and a little clammy and not quite right. 

But he didn’t even realize that until he was able to hug Julie. He raised a hand to her cheek, brushing his thumb over her soft warm skin, relishing in the ability to touch her. Touch this beautiful girl who brought him back to life. Who gave him everything he didn’t realize he was missing. He doesn’t know what to do. All he knows is that he never wants to let her go. 

She’s warm. He can feel her heartbeat. It’s strong, as strong as her, and the sound of it beating is almost as beautiful as her voice. She’s most definitely alive. As for him. Well. He’s- he doesn’t know. 

But then it doesn’t matter because she’s calling Alex and Reggie over and suddenly they’re all solid, warm, and _glowing_? (That’s a little weird, but so is his life). 

They spent an eternity holding each other, marveling in the ability to feel each other, to feel a warmth they didn’t realize they were missing until then. 

Eventually, a yawn moves through the group hug. It starts with Julie, then one by one, all the guys realize how tired they are. (I guess almost dying for a second time takes it out of a ghost). 

“Could uh- could we all stay here for the night?” Reggie says through a yawn, (he’s really asking Julie to stay in case her going away means they’ll stop being solid. He wants to spend as much time as warm and solid and real as possible.)

“Of course! I think we deserve a little band bonding now that we can actually feel each other” Julie responds, beaming at them. 

(It’s hard to tell who’s most excited about Julie staying in the studio for the night. Between, Alex, a notorious cuddle bug, Reggie, who spent most of his time in Sunset Curve laying on one of his bandmates, or Luke, who hadn’t stopped touching Julie since he became solid, it might have been a three-way tie. Or maybe it was Julie, who was still looking at them with wide eye wonder, thrilled at being able to touch the people who gave her the confidence to sing again.) 

Anyway, they find some blankets and pillows leftover from their days in the studio, when it was often easier to crash at the studio then to go home to disapproving parents (and in Luke, Alex, and Reggie’s case, from when the studio eventually become their home.)

“Uhm, so how do we want to do this?” The question comes from Julie, still clutching Luke’s desperately, as though the only way for him to stay solid is if she never lets him go. 

“Well, ladies first I guess?” Comes from Alex, always the most gentlemanly out of the three of them. 

“Alright.” And with that, Julie takes a place in the middle of the nest-like collection of blankets and pillows, pulling Luke down to lay on the right of her. 

Alex settles on the other side of Julie, while Reggie practically jumps into the space on the other side of Luke. And exhausted from the day, they all quickly fall asleep, appreciating the warmth and humanness of each other. 

_______________

Of course things aren’t that easy. Why would they be? 

“Julie! Julie! Are you in here? It doesn’t look like you slept in your-” And with that Ray opens the doors of the studio and sees the cuddle pile Julie and the boys formed. 

“JULIE! What are you doing?!” Ray shouts, waking Julie from her slumber. 

“Waz going on?” Julie mumbles, raising her head from Alex’s shoulder, trying to blink away the sleep. 

“I think I should be asking that question! Julie, why are your bandmates sleeping in the studio, and more importantly why are you sleeping with them!” Julie froze as the last sentence left her dad's mouth. At that same moment, Luke decides to pull Julie back down to the blankets using the arm he still had wrapped around her waist. 

“Luke, stop it!” Julie hisses, “My dad’s here!” 

“So?” Luke mumbles, “it’s not like he can see us,” as he rolls over, once more trying to pull Julie down. 

“Excuse me, young man! I can most definitely see you, and it would be much appreciated if you would stop groping my daughter.” Ray snapped, sounding remarkably similar to Julie when she was frustrated with the guys. 

With that, Luke freezes. “You- you can see us?” Luke forces out. 

“Ugh, love you Ray, but I really need my beauty rest. Julie, can you get him out of here?” Comes from Reggie, who has the ability to say the absolute worse thing in any situation. 

Julie and Luke sigh simultaneously. 

“Look, I get that you guys are in a band together, and I’m that you guys had a long flight to get here from Sweden, or where ever you guys are based, but I would appreciate if someone would tell me what the hell is going on!” Ray says as he walks closer to the group. 

Then, finally, Alex wakes up. “What with the yelling? He groans, stretching while untangling his legs from Julie’s. 

“What's going on, Dad is that uh after the show last night, uh because it went so well, they decided that we should uh try to be together! So! The boys took the soonest flight, but they were sooooo tired when they got here, they just wanted to pass out, and I didn’t want to wake you up, especially after how late you stayed up last night, so uh I told the boys they could stay in the studio until the morning, then we could do introductions! Right guys!” Julie says as she shoves the guys off of her, trying to stand up. 

“Uh, right! So sorry sir, we were just so exhausted from our flight from Switzerland-” Alex starts, then Julie coughs something that sounds suspiciously like ‘Sweden!’, and then Alex backtracks, “Sorry, Sweden, my brain’s still a little scrambled from the red-eye! But, uh yeah, we were so tired and we didn’t want to impose, so Julie said we could sleep here for the night!” 

Ray narrows his eyes. “Why didn’t you guys arrange a hotel?” 

“Well,”, Alex jumps in, always the first to come up with a cover story for the guys, “We thought our manager had booked some rooms for us at a Hilton, but it turns out she booked one in New York! Haha, you know managers, so many little details slip their minds!” He ends with a nervous chuckle. 

“Uh-huh. Well why did Julie feel the need to sleep with you guys?” Ray asks with a raised eyebrow. 

“Band bonding!” Reggie jumps in. 

“Yeah! Band Bonding! It’s really critical for the change of a hologram band to a physical bond.” Julie adds on, trying to add a little credibility to Reggie’s claim. 

“I-” Ray sighs, “Next time can band bonding not involve me walking in on my sixteen-year-old daughter sleeping with three teenage boys.” 

“DAD! It sounds so… gross when you say it like that!” Julie says in abject horror, wrinkling her nose. 

“What am I supposed to think! I wake up to find your bed unslept in and you wrapped up with three strange boys in our studio!” Rays retorts, a note of reproach entering his voice. “Next time you have band bonding, please just let me know. And don’t let me find you sleeping with your band.” Letting his eyes rove over the boys critically, then adding, “Individually or together, got it?” 

Face flushing with embarrassment, Julie nods her head, then elbows the boy to do the same. 

“Sorry Dad.” 

“Sorry Mr. Molina.” The boys chime in unison. 

“Hmm. Well breakfast is ready. I made french toast, so hurry up before it gets soggy. Make sure you clean up your little… nest before coming." And with that Ray walks out of the studio, shaking his head as if to banish the image of his teenage daughter sleeping with three boys. 

“Of course Dad” Julie answers, still flushed from the implication that she was sleeping with the band. She thought to her self, “sure, technically I was, but like, why did Dad have to make it sound so… so… dirty? But then again, I wouldn’t mind doing more than just holding hands with a certain member of the band… no! No! Bad Julie! Focus on getting cleaned up then figuring out what the hell happened last night!” 

As Julie surfaces from her panic spiral she realizes that the boys have cleaned up their sleeping area and that Reggie and Alex have left the studio, leaving her and Luke behind. 

“You good?” Luke asks as he rests his hand on her shoulder. 

“Yeah no definitely!” Julie says, trying a little too hard to sound alright. 

“Good, we can’t have our savior leave us now” Luke smiles at her, his eyes crinkling. 

“I love when he does the crinkly-eye-smile. I love that he smiles with his eyes. I love that his eyes will never lie to me.” Julie thinks to her self. And caught up in her admiration of his warm eyes, Julie doesn’t realize her hand coming up and resting on Luke’s cheek, thumb resting at the corner of his mouth until Luke reaches a hand out to rest on her waist. The look in his eyes scares her. Not because he looks mad or upset, but because of the promise in them. 

_______________

Luke stares at Julie, hand at her waist, drinking her in. He takes in her sleep mussed curls, warm skin that smells a little like citrus and sugar, (how did he never notice how good she smells? Like the first day of summer, of warmth and promise.), and sparkling eyes. 

And he knows he’s not imagining it this time. She’s definitely looking at his lips. And all he wants to do is kiss her. He wants to taste her, in the least gross was possible. He wants to hold her, feel her body, solid and warm against him, and everything he didn’t realize he was missing. He wants. He just needs to know if she wants it too. 

“We’re uh- we’re a little close aren’t we?” Julie laughs in an attempt to break the tension. 

“Yeah. Do you mind?” Luke asks, taking a tiny minuscule step closer, satisfied when she doesn’t step away, doesn’t take away her hand on his face. 

“No.” She says, stepping one more inch closer. 

“Great” Luke says, closing even more of the gap between them. They are almost chest to chest and the only way to be closer would be if they were actually- 

And suddenly Julie’s hand moves to the back of his neck and Luke gets nervous. It’s not like this would be his first kiss, but it would be the first time he kissed a bandmate. The first time he kissed a girl in twenty-five years. The first time he kissed a girl who means more to him then he could ever hope to articulate. The first time kissing Julie. And suddenly he’s not nervous anymore. Because it’s Julie. 

“Can I kiss you?” Luke asks, desperately praying for a yes. He thinks he’ll die _again_ if he can’t taste her lips. 

“Only if I can kiss you,” Julie answers, a teasing smirk playing at the corner of her lips. 

“Of course” And suddenly they’re kissing. And at first, it’s just okay. Its lips on each other, a little chapped. And it’s fine. But then, then, Julie tilts her head and opens her mouth a little. And suddenly it’s incredible. It’s better than the first time he played a chord on a guitar. It’s better than the first soundcheck at the Orpheum. It’s better than anything he’s ever felt before because it’s Julie. 

Julie. He loves her. He loves her in a way he didn’t think he was caple of (it’s incredible what you find out about yourself after you die), he loves her in a way that scares him because he loves her as much as music. (He might even love her more than music.)

Julie makes a small, almost wounded noise against his lips and Luke turns his attention to more important matters. Mainly, kissing the living (or is it unliving because she’s kissing a ghost?) daylights out of the brilliant girl in his arms. 

And so he does. It’s a little wet, a little sloppy, but it’s perfect. It’s perfect and wonderful and he wants to read a dictionary so he can find the perfect word to describe this moment. 

Then, a “Guys?” from the open studio doors. Reggie and Alex are in the open doors, both looking a little shocked(Alex) and proud (Reggie). 

“I told you they’d be making out!” Reggie crows. 

“Shut up!” Alex turns to Julie and Luke. “Ray told us to get you before the french toast got soggy. Should I tell him you’re occupied?” He teases with a shit eating grin. 

“No, that will not be necessary Alex,” Julie says, grabbing Luke’s hand and pulling him out of the studio. “And don’t you guys know about knocking!” 

“Don’t you guys know not to make out in front of any open door?” Reggie shoots back, while a wide grin spreads across his face. 

Julie lets out a frustrated scream and starts walking a little faster, muttering under her breath about stupid ghost boys and bandmates. 

Luke just smiles at her. Life is good. They’re solid. It looks like everyone can see them. And he just kissed the girl of his dreams. A girl he loves. 

And then she smiles at him. It feels like a promise and that he can’t wait to figure it out.

Life is very very good.

**Author's Note:**

> Hehe I'm a sucker for platonic cuddling. These ghosts will not let me rest until I write all the fluffy things.


End file.
